Have you caught the problem solving virus?

“If I were given one hour to save the planet, I would spend 59 minutes defining the problem and one minute resolving it,” advised Albert Einstein.

The line between success and failure in business is razor-thin. Developing a strong problem-solving mindset — guided by the principle that a well-defined problem is already half-solved — can make all the difference.

Astute problem solving is a skill wildly successful entrepreneurs and perceptive managers have in abundance.

Long history

At the heart of problem solving is the scientific method whose roots go back 2,000 years, that gradually evolved over centuries, with contributions from various thinkers including Aristotle, Ibn al-Haytham, Francis Bacon, Galileo Galilei, and Isaac Newton.

Deductive logic goes from the general to the specific, while inductive problem solving begins from the specific to the wider perspective.

Applying inductive logic, a sharp manager is able to observe what is happening, set a best guess, a hypothesis of what is occurring, and do the work, the research, to either prove, or disprove the hypothesis, and adapt according.

This is simply the ‘lean startup method’ quickly going through a ‘build-measure–learn’ loop popularised by Eric Ries and Steve Blank, which is at heart of any Silicon Valley success story. “Move fast and break things” was Facebook’s initial mantra.

Strangely, problem solving is not a skill often taught, except in leading edge universities with students looking at the world through the eyes of their discipline. For example, physicians are trained in differential diagnosis, applied when there is a range of possible conditions that could cause the patient’s symptoms.

Process generally involves reviewing the patient’s medical history, physical examination, creating a [hypothesis] differential diagnosis, additional tests, reviewing test results and symptoms, then making the more final diagnosis.

While being analytical and applying logic is a valuable skill, the other side to problem solving involves thinking beyond what facts and figures suggest.

Escape the box - with imagination

Out of the box, creative ‘lateral thinking’ was first popularised by Edward de Bono, the Malta born Oxford trained physician with the publication of his 1967 book The Use of Lateral Thinking, making the often-blurred distinction between thought perception and processing.

Being creative requires curiosity, spurred by seeing things differently. Escaping from the tedious sameness of everyone competing, trying to differentiate, yet in the process, coming out looking remarkably the same. Of the roughly 40 retails banks in Kenya, and a similar number of insurance companies, how many of them really stand out?

Ethiopian born physician and novelist Abraham Verghese, delivered the keynote address at Harvard University’s 374th graduation ceremony on May 29, 2025. He spoke about how his love of reading spurred his imagination and quoted Albert Camus: “Fiction is the great lie that tells the truth about how the world lives”.

Having a sense of imagination is the DNA at the nucleus of creative problem solving. US President John F Kennedy was inspired to create instruments of soft diplomacy, both the Peace Corps and USAid after reading the ‘The Ugly American’, a 1958 political novel by Eugene Burdick and William Lederer that depicts the failures of the US diplomatic corps in Southeast Asia.

Strong methods for problem solving require specific knowledge about a subject. You have to know the nitty gritty facts and figures. Essentially, the more you know, the better you are at solving problems.

Most basic question to ask is: Why?

Psychologists call this causal knowledge – required to answer the question why – which is the basis for the manager’s expertise.

Problem is that even though causal knowledge is crucial for solving new problems, the quality of your knowledge may not be as good as you think it is.

Read: Why the best managers are often philosophical

We suffer from the persistent illusion of ‘explanatory depth’ meaning we believe that we understand the way the world works far better than we actually do. Systems that dominate the business world are incredibly complex, yet somehow, we have to make a best guess, simplify and move forward.

Research suggests that 70 to 80 percent of Kenyan businesses fail within three years. Could be that they shut their entrepreneurial doors, or perhaps the owners went into full time employment. But why is that figure so high? While there could be hundreds of reasons for business failure, very often the cause is more internal than anything related to the intensity of competition.

Part of the answer may be an inability to create a product or service that is actually in demand – that solves a customer’s actual pressing problem.

Taking the path of least resistance, it is much easier to feel and hope one knows what the client wants, rather than doing design thinking work, actually testing the product with a small sample, then adapting, or making a more radical pivot.

Thin line between business profits and disappointment relies on catching the problem solving virus that infects one’s grey matter. Symptoms are; an ability to think both logically, do the hard analysis, and then add a dose of more creative lateral thinking.

Just like the flu, a common cold or Covid-19, the problem solving virus is like a small piece of genetic DNA code, inside of a protective shell. Remember, viruses can’t exist alone, they require a host to reproduce and spread. Time to be contagious.

David is a director at aCatalyst Consulting. | [email protected]